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2025 Letter

danwang.co

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Re: 2025 Letter

#161

Post by Cyph0n »

robkop wrote: post #155
Cyph0n wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The example I like to use to demonstrate how broken labor vs. service costs are in the UAE is to compare the price of a Big Mac meal to the price of a standard manual car wash (closer to detailing tbh). In the UAE, a Big Mac meal costs approximately 35 AED ($10). On the other hand, a manual car wash - approx. 1-2 hours of labor - can cost you around 20 AED. In other words, you could get almost two manual car washes f…

Can you elaborate? I would have thought the main driver for the price of a service is the labor?

You essentially have two stratums of society:

(1) the middle class (and above) who have money to spend on services

(2) the migrant working class, the bulk of whom send every last extra penny back home as remittances to support family

The second class of people are not considered as a market for the majority of services in the UAE. In the case of food, when they do eat out, they frequent traditional, low cost/quality establishments.

As for why a Big Mac costs that much, labor definitely doesn’t have much to do with it. My impression is that prices continued to get pushed up as long as sales didn’t take a hit, which means it’s mostly pure profit.

Keep in mind that the median salary isn’t that high. Without looking it up, I would guess it’s approx $25k USD/year, but I haven’t lived there in a while.

Re: 2025 Letter

#162

Post by whoevercares »

NooneAtAll3 wrote: post #160

> For tragedies too widely experienced in modern times to be censored — the Cultural Revolution, the one-child policy, Zero Covid ... this part has me confused can someone explain to me why Zero Covid - the most successful program that minimized Covid deaths - is a tragedy? imo it was better than whatever clusterfuck was happening pretty much everywhere else

Zero-COVID was an absolute disaster. It involved severe human rights violations and caused immense social and economic damage, including unnecessary displacement, homelessness, and even deaths. The number is lower sure, but China had the capacity to do much better

Re: 2025 Letter

#163

Post by socalgal2 »

amelius wrote: post #139
socalgal2 wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a common opinion that never actually matches the facts. The issue is all the things blocking supply. As long as supply is blocked, prices will go up, Period

But why allow e.g. Chinese investors to buy property in SF if they aren't even going to live there?

1. It's only an investment because of limited supply.

2. Chinese investors buying up and not living there is effectively a myth. There just are aren't very many of them.

3. What's special about "Chinese"? If a rich NYC finance person buys a vacation home in SF is that ok? How about a Brit or German?

Re: 2025 Letter

#164

Post by senordevnyc »

andrepd wrote: post #151
pityJuke wrote: post #4

As someone unfamiliar with the author, I had a deep amount of cynicism for the length of this piece... but damn, it's good, top to bottom.

Hard disagree. How many paragraphs of fawning over the unique culture of the Bay Area must I endure before he arrives at the point? Such gems as > I like SF house parties, where people take off their shoes at the entrance and enter a space in which speech can be heard over music, which feels so much more civilized than descending into a loud bar in New York. It’s easy to fall into a nerdy conversation almost immediat…

Just quoting a paragraph means nothing, what’s the actual problem you have here?

I’ve lived in both SF and now NYC, and that characterization is painting with a broad brush, but isn’t ridiculous.

Re: 2025 Letter

#165

Post by dpark »

nullorempty wrote: post #73
nradov wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China has very limited internal natural resources. Much of their growth has been enabled by massive imports of raw materials including soybeans, fertilizer, fossil fuels, iron ore, copper ore, etc. Their prosperity and even their survival is heavily dependent on the post-WWII global free trade system. Ironically, China's expansionist foreign policy is one of several factors now causing that system to fray. In another…

They have that which matters the most - people with certain set of beliefs. That's the wealth of China, which they share generously with the West - just look at the Chinese developers and scientists that work in the West.

Are you quoting straight out of a CCP propaganda book?

America supposedly has no resources so we are exploiting other countries. Someone says China has no resources and suddenly the only resource that matters is the spirit of the Chinese people. Give me a break.

Re: 2025 Letter

#167

Post by NooneAtAll3 »

ViktorRay wrote: post #106
kubb wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He’s a Chinese guy in the US. He thinks in terms of large monoliths. The nuance of 40 different cultures on a small continent might be lost on him. That’s OK. We all have some approximation of reality in our brains which is necessarily shaped by our life experiences.

Your statement here is pretty ironic. China also has many different cultures, languages and so on for the over 1.4 billion people who live there. Why would the “nuance” of Europe be “lost” on a Chinese person?

double ironically, your comment precisely answers your question

the two of you operate on different scale of unification - what you see as "many different cultures", chinese and americans see as "a single country". What they see as "Europe pulling in many directions" - you might see as independent national interests

perhaps the best way to recognize the attitude is to think what you feel about subsections of your country - while Scotland/England divide is common, it's rarer to hear in what Yorkshire differs from the Cornwall; and I bet not many people would guess what beef is there between french citizen from Normandy and from Nice

it is this kind of scale that allows China to build transmission lines through the whole country's diameter. It is that kind of scale that made americans scream at each other because of abortion high court decision - while said decision simply said "let states decide"

it's a lot of difference, and there's a lot of nuances "on both sides" - but simply of a different kind

Re: 2025 Letter

#168

Post by dalyons »

kubb wrote: post #93
kankerlijer wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is something very irritating seeing someone dismiss someone else on the internet using condescending therapy speak 'Thats Ok', nevermind the fact that calling him out as some ignorant Chinese guy while China has hundreds of cultures and languages, as if a Chinese person couldn't comprehend... Europe.

The way to respect isn’t through shaming people into it. It’s through demonstration of value, in this case understanding of nuance. Instead we get an application of external logic and values which can’t be used to properly reason about the entity they’re applied to. There’s no need for frustration. We take the stoic approach here. It’s OK. You are a product of your environment. Everything you’ve ever experienced told…

FWIW this comes across as very condescending to me too. Maybe try a different framing.

Re: 2025 Letter

#169

Post by dpark »

mopsi wrote: post #154
dpark wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think most people in general have no taste. But taste is also so subjective that it’s hard to meaningfully discuss. Everyone probably thinks they have great taste. Part of the Silicon Valley ethos (and techie ethos in general) is the rejection of fashion. Comfort over style. Casual over classy. Even the “stealth wealth” thing that trended for a while seemed to be an expression of this. Casual wear, but really expen…

Rejection of fashion has always seemed like a fear of failure to me. Trying to dress well means exposing yourself to evaluation, comparison and the possibility of getting it wrong. The traditions and standards of fashion have accumulated over centuries and are fairly resistant to being redefined (especially by rookies), which makes success depend on external criteria and not on personal rules. Rejecting fashion altog…

I’m sure that’s also a factor. But I do think it’s one of many. Non-techies often take their fashion cues from people they admire. If we assume techies do the same, then they will likely be looking up to people who have largely rejected fashion.

Re: 2025 Letter

#170

Post by zeroonetwothree »

i_love_retros wrote: post #133
dzonga wrote: post #49

London has the house prices of California and the income levels of Mississippi. the UK is seriously broken, I always reflect on the energy generation statistics of the UK per capita while in the US you see automated car washes, in the uk most car washes are Albanians n other immigrants etc

Yes but London isn't in America so there's that. Have you lived in the UK at all, or at least spent considerable time there? I've lived in the UK and America, and America seems far more broken to me.

I’ve lived in an actual “broken” country. Compared to that both the US and UK are great.
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